Clear for Life

Does it feel like your skin has a mind of its own? That it feels like acne is impossible to control?

You certainly aren’t the only one. The email I got from a reader describes the sentiments of many acne victims.

My skin, overall, is good. I do not have severe acne and my breakouts are mild and comes but once in a while. But when I do get them.. I feel they are impossible to control. I also am frustrated by the red marks they have left behind. What would you recommend is best for me.

Two concerns: Control acne and fade away post acne marks. Overall I am happy with my skin. Just want to be able to be in control of it more.

First I have to say you can’t really control your skin. Not in a reliable way at least. Sure creams, lotions, drugs, supplements, light therapies and such can give you some degree of control. But you’ve probably tried almost all of those. And nobody can tell you if they work for you, and if they do for how long. It’s a bit like going to casino. You may win, but the odds are stacked against you.

A bit more advanced way is to see if some foods or substances trigger a breakout. Perhaps you have some food allergies or sensitivities that trigger acne.

But that’s about the extent of control you have over your skin. How your skin looks is largely determined what happens inside of you. If I had a pull a figure out of my hat I’d say what happens inside of you controls at least 80% of your skin. The rest being what you do to your skin.

Trying to control your acne is not the way I recommend. Simply because illnesses don’t happen without a cause. And what we deem as a health problem, such as acne, is nothing but a symptom of the cause. Pimples are not your real problem, and trying to fight pimples won’t get you any closer to curing the real problem.

Why elimination of the symptom is NOT the same as elimination of the disease
Physicians and surgeons palliate symptoms instead of removing causes

Jeffrey Levy, DVM - “The greatest harm of drug treatment is usually not so much the toxicity or side effects as it is the effects of suppression. Allopathic (conventional Western) medical thinking generally seeks immediate gratification: just make the symptom go away.

So the patient may be better in the short term, but is usually worse in the longer term. Homeopathy is just the opposite: sometimes the symptoms are worse in the short term (such as with aggravation or the reversal of a previous suppression), but the real benefit is in the longer term.

A symptom, say itchy skin, is the body’s response to a deeper problem. When a symptom is suppressed, it is only the outward manifestation of the problem that goes away. Since the deeper problem is still there, the body may, in time, produce the same symptom again.

Another possibility is that, as a result of the suppression, the deeper problem progresses to the point that a deeper, more serious symptom is produced. So the itchy skin may go away, but then chronic diarrhea develops. If the diarrhea is then suppressed as well, it may lead to, say, liver disease. But hey, at least the skin is cleared up!

I see this pattern, or variations on it, very frequently in reviewing the medical records of new patients. It is the unrecognized, and often high, price that we pay for the quick fix, for immediate gratification, for the shot or pill that seems to make the problem go away.”

Understanding Basic Healing Principles of Natural Cure

Clear for Life approach recognizes that the root cause is related to diet and lifestyle choices, and that given a change the innate healing mechanisms in your body will heal it.

In the name of honesty I have to say that the Clear for Life approach is not always a walk in the park. Mainly for two reasons.

First, it takes some work initially. Making diet and lifestyle changes you may need to make is not always easy. Though once you get the ball rolling it becomes effortless. Because you start feeling so much better you can get hooked on feeling good. Then there’s no turning back to your old diet and lifestyle (what a shame : )).

Another stumbling block is that you have to give up trying to control your skin. Going through the healing journey can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. One day your skin looks great and the next morning you wake up with horrible pimples.

Healing is a reversal of the disease process. While on it your acne may get worse (temporarily) and some of your old symptoms may pop up (again temporarily).

Going through this roller coaster ride often puts you face to face with deeper self-esteem issues (if you have any, most people do and I certainly had my fair share).

On the other hand with proper tools, guidance and support you can get over these emotional issues and emergy stronger not only physically but also emotionally.

I know this was a long and complicated answer to a simple question. But acne goes far below the surface. When one talks about true healing one cannot chop the body into pieces and deal with them separately. Everything is interconnected and when you throw mind and emotions into the kettle you can begin to appreciate the soup you have cooked.

Still I see acne as perhaps the greatest opportunity you have to drastically improving the quality of your life and getting closer to a happier and more fulfilling life.

If this a path you want to get on head on to Clear Skin Space. It’s filled with people just like you. You’ll get all the support, advice and inspiration you need.

So go ahead and turn acne into your greatest opportunity.

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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin

The comments for this post are moved to Clear Skin Space forums: How can I control my acne?

A common folk-wisdom saying states that one man’s medicine is another’s poison. My view is that one man’s poison is everybody’s poison. Generally speaking, of course there are some exceptions to this.

I imagine this piece of ‘wisdom’ got started on how different people reacted differently to same foods or substances. Some got better while others were worse off.

So what’s the deal here. If one man’s poisons is everybody’s poison how can this happen? Shouldn’t everybody get the same reaction?

I can think of several reasons why different people react differently to same substances.

Preexisting conditions

Allergies and other preexisting conditions can cause negative reactions to even healthy foods and substances. Tomatoes are very nutritious and healthy but many people are allergic to them.

In this case the saying is true, but this is the exception that confirms the rule. Once the person deals with these conditions (if possible) they won’t experience the negative reactions anymore.

Fruit is a great example of this. Some people say they react badly to fruits, it gives them stomach cramps or leads to breakouts. Therefore they conclude fruits are bad for them. In case of acne the real problem usually is insulin resistance. Once that’s handled fruits won’t cause acne anymore. In case of stomach cramps simply eating fruits to empty stomach (instead of eating them as dessert) solves the problem.

Going from worse to bad

Most people eat such horrible diets that switching to foods that are merely bad (in relation to ‘worse’ ‘bad’ is better) makes them feel better.

Healthy eating is more about what you don’t eat than what you eat. Adding a bit of healthy foods to a horrible diet won’t make much of a difference. But simply dropping the highly processed foods can make a big difference.

Let’s say you drink five cups of coffee a day. As a result you’ll get a migraine. You switch to defac coffee and your migraine goes away. Does that mean decaf coffee is good for you? No, it simply means caffeinated coffee is worse. And the cure has more to do with absence of caffeine than of any positive quality of decaf coffee.

Compare that to what happens to another person who has never touched coffee before. They drink decaf coffee, after which their head starts to spin and generally feel bad.

Does this mean decaf coffee is one man’s medicine and another’s poison? No it simply means that after drinking coffee for a while the other person can tolerate it. It’s bad for them also, but overtime their bodies have build defenses to minimize the negative effects. This is the reason why you need more alcohol to get drunk now than you needed when you started drinking.

Confusing symptoms with the real problem

In almost all health conditions symptoms are not the real problem. They simply reflect the underlying condition. In case of acne pimples are not the real problem. The real problem is chronic inflammation and blood sugar problems. These conditions lead to acne, and you cannot get rid of them by treating acne.

In many cases, and especially so with acne, the symptoms often get worse before they get better. They are part of the healing process. Say a person starts with the clear skin lifestyle and after few weeks their acne gets worse. A misguided person might conclude that they are on the wrong path.

Going back to their old lifestyle stops the healing process and their skin gets better. They conclude that Clear for Life was the worst thing they ever tried - it made their acne worse.

In this case one man’s medicine appeared like another’s poison. A well informed person persists through the temporary healing crisis and discovers that one man’s medicine is their medicine also.

These were just few examples off the top of my head to explain why different people can react differently to the same substance. I’m sure you can think of many others.

I hope this post helped you to file this piece of ‘wisdom’ to where it belongs: Alice’s Great Book of Dietary Fairytales. Brought to you by the Wonderland Press.

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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin

The comments for this post are moved to Clear Skin Space forums: Is one man’s poison another’s medicine?